Sunday, April 26, 2009

Unseen Growth

"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." _Jesus

Of all the beauty in this parable, my favorite line has to be "...the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how." Let that phrase be to us a poem of our liturgy, a poem of our work in God's world. Our work, after all, is God's work; our resurrection, Christ's resurrection. We don't have to have it all figured out, we don't have to be certain, but if we follow as Christ has led we can rest assured that in the morning the sun will rise and the harvest will be full. The kingdom of God is coming inevitably, however imperceptibly. It's constant, however invisible. Let us, with resurrection hope, practice the kingdom of God. Let us practice in the full sense of the word, preparing so that we'll not be surprised when God's reign shows up around us, even as a sprout. Let us live the life to which we move. Let us live the life to which God's reign inevitably calls us. It's growing around us, why not in us?

Quote of the "Day"

"Peace will come through dialogue, through trust and respect for others who are different, through inner strength and a spirituality of love, patience, humility, and forgiveness. Little by little, a culture of competition will be transformed into a culture of welcome and mutual respect." -Jean Vanier